Today could have been a very good day for British politics, the reform of the House of Lords as been an ongoing issue for nearly 100 years, and the Liberal Democrats have been trying hard to have a fully elected Upper House.
The previous Labour Government had got rid of most of the hereditary Lords, but 92 remain. I'm not sure if that was really much of an improvement, more like getting rid of those who are not toeing the Labour Government line.
Personally I would trust the Hereditary Peers, rather than those appointed by the political parties.
Britain is one of two countries that have clerics given a guaranteed place in it's Parliament, the other one is Iran, it's good to see the company we keep with open and democratic government.
But we see that we are going down to 300 Lords, of which 80% will be elected leaving 20% to be appointed, simple maths, 60 will be appointed in some way. As usual, no one has actually figured out how the second Chamber will actually work.
The hardest part is to make something the citizens will actually trust.
The House of Lords is the British Outer Mongolia for retired politicians. Tony Benn
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